Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,40

need my supernatural allies to ensure my mortal self made it out of this alive.

“Get out of here!” I shouted. “You don’t need to wait for me. I’ve got my own escape route; I’ll meet you at Darlene.”

Not that I approved of the Everymobile’s new name, just to be clear—it was only a way to avoid tipping our enemies off to where we were heading.

“M’lady,” Thorn called out in protest, apparently unwilling to take my word for it. Time to get a move on anyway.

“Just go!” I said, snatching up my purse with a sputtering Pickle in it, and dashed toward the balcony.

It helped that our attackers had entered from the main door and were opting for a “mow them down” approach rather than “surround them.” I only had to dodge a couple of fists and one gleaming whip before I was springing past the curtains into the crisp dawn air. My devoted shadowkind defenders had better take the hint and escape into the shadows now that I’d exited the room.

Leaving the balcony looked to be slightly more difficult than reaching it. Our lovely penthouse stood twelve stories above the sidewalk I’d like to end up on, and I hadn’t brought my grappling hook and rope. Note to self: All occasions are good occasions to have the cat burglar gear on hand.

The thunder of impending footsteps told me I’d better get going one way or another. I glanced down, ignored the flip of my stomach—I was no chicken when it came to heights, but I generally wasn’t prancing around on buildings quite this tall—and vaulted over the balcony’s railing.

With a grasp of the bars and a swing of my legs, I launched myself onto the smaller balcony below. One floor down, eleven more to go. Too bad the rest of the windows below me only featured Juliets—who in their right mind called that little stub a balcony anyway?

The inhabitants of the sub-penthouse had left their balcony door locked, but even in a hotel this fancy, those things weren’t really built for keeping people out. Who expected robbers to descend from the sky? I gave the handle a well-practice kick, grinned at the snap of the lock, and shoved the door wide just as shouts hailed down from above.

I sprinted through the room of some hotel goer who was lucky enough to still be sleeping at this hour—at least, until my pursuers crashed in—and down the hall to the stairs, not wanting to risk the elevator. My feet had never flown faster. On the ground floor, I peeked out through the window, spotted the metal-helmed figures by the front doors getting stares from the desk clerks, and eased the door open just far enough to make a run for the kitchen.

The staff who’d provided our delightful breakfast were clattering around fulfilling other room service requests. “Thanks for the lovely meal!” I hollered to them as I sprinted past. As I’d hoped, a door at the far end of the room offered an exit into an alley that held a dumpster and exactly zero Company assholes. For now.

Thankfully, we’d taken the precaution of parking the Everymobile—in cargo van guise—a few blocks away from the hotel. I loped over there before our attackers could get their act together and figure out where I’d snuck off to.

As our vehicle came into view, tension prickled through my muscles. The shadowkind had all hoofed it out of the penthouse when I’d left, hadn’t they? I couldn’t remember even seeing Snap in the fray. If we’d lost him again, or any of the others…

The door flung open to admit me, Thorn standing on the other side with an urgent beckoning. I spotted Ruse in the driver’s seat behind him, foot poised over the gas.

Neither of them looked at all concerned about getting anyone on board other than me. Thank holy hamburgers. I accepted Thorn’s hand, he yanked me on board, and the RV peeled away from the curb the second the door had thumped shut behind me.

“We all made it?” I asked, just in case.

“All present and accounted for,” Omen said tersely from where he was standing by the kitchen. Snap was sitting on the sofa-bench with a vaguely bewildered expression, and Antic… was bouncing on her heels right on the table.

She shot me an eager smirk when she saw me look her way. “I gave them a good lesson with those teacups, didn’t I?”

“You were great,” I said. No need to pick apart exactly how much